Full employment is more important now than ever before

James Pritchard, Leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council

If you look through the history books, the Labour Party had a long-term commitment to full employment. For a manifesto not to include a commitment to achieving full employment, it would have been considered strange.

But over the last few decades, the phrase ‘full employment’ has hardly been uttered. The election of Andy Burnham, I think, will shift the dial. I believe he gets it. He knows that hard work should be rewarded with strong workers’ rights and security. We should be clear and unambiguous and commit to full employment.

There is a conversation to be had about how we can support people into training and employment, and we must make sure that support is there. This is not about penalising people. Our starting goal should be to recognise everybody as equal. No more writing people off for a lifetime on benefits. That does not do that person, or society, any favours.

To turn things slightly personal for a moment, I have had three periods of unemployment in my life, either side of my time in the steelworks during the first decade of this century. It was no fun signing on for £141.40 a fortnight. Many young people not in education or training must have the employment and training options available to them.

Since assuming the Regeneration portfolio in 2022, I have worked to ensure everything we are doing as a council is geared towards that proactive and positive attitude to employment. But am I just saying things, without action?

What if I said there was a 46 per cent increase in business start-ups in Caerphilly Borough between January and June 2026, compared with the same period in the preceding year? This means Caerphilly has the third-fastest rate for business start-ups of the 22 local authorities in Wales.

What if I also said economic activity among residents aged 16–64 in Caerphilly has risen by more than three per cent since 2022, meaning over 3,500 more working-age residents are now participating in the labour market? Despite having known areas of economic disadvantage, higher than the Welsh average, Caerphilly Borough has an employment rate higher than the Welsh average.

What if I said unemployment in Caerphilly Borough has also fallen compared with previous years, with around 1,000 fewer unemployed residents than in 2022?

Well, this is not council spin. These are the facts, so I am going to talk briefly about what we’re doing as a local authority to support people into work and to drive business growth across the county borough.

Business support

We have an in-house business team who are out there in the community, not waiting for businesses to come to us. The kind of support available is varied and includes business clinics, where we offer tailored one-to-one support and advice on skills and access to grants. We work with industry and other council services to provide joined-up support, and we regularly promote individual businesses with case studies.

We also have an energetic Employability Team. So, what is the Employability Team doing?

Well, our Employability Team is out there in the communities, at events, in our libraries and at job fairs, providing that support to get people all across the county borough into work or training.

Now, are the improving jobs figures for Caerphilly County Borough purely because of the work the council is doing? Of course not, it’s a mix of things. But having had the Regeneration portfolio since 2022, I know silo working doesn’t work, and we have to link together with all layers of government.

Employment opportunities

As leader of this council, I am putting serious efforts into generating better employment opportunities. More recently, I have been working with the Cardiff Capital Region to encourage more investment in new business accelerator units in our borough, particularly in the northern part of the borough, which is more economically disadvantaged.

The Cardiff Capital Region must work for the whole of the region and be willing to intervene more in areas where the market hasn’t.

Why should there be a postcode lottery when it comes to employment? It is important that residents secure good employment opportunities and, as leader of the council, I continue to keep working to ensure that political support and drive is there.

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